2 Samuel 9: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

David asks whether anyone from Saul's family is still alive, so he can be kind to them for the sake of his friend Jonathan. A former servant of Saul named Ziba tells him about Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, who cannot walk. David brings him from Lo-debar, returns to him all the land that had belonged to Saul, and gives him a permanent place at the king's table. Ziba and his household are assigned to farm the land for Mephibosheth, who then lives in Jerusalem.

Claim by Claim

1. 9:1
   • David asked whether anyone was still left of the house of Saul.
   • David said his purpose was to show kindness to such a person.
   • David said the kindness would be for Jonathan's sake.
2. 9:2
   • The house of Saul had a servant named Ziba.
   • They called Ziba to David.
   • The king asked Ziba whether he was Ziba.
   • Ziba answered that he was the king's servant.
3. 9:3
   • The king asked whether anyone of the house of Saul remained.
   • The king said he wished to show the kindness of God to such a person.
   • Ziba told the king that Jonathan still had a son.
   • Ziba said that Jonathan's son was crippled in his feet.
4. 9:4
   • The king asked Ziba where Jonathan's son was.
   • Ziba told the king the man was in the house of Machir.
   • Ziba said Machir was the son of Ammiel.
   • Ziba said the house was in Lodebar.
5. 9:5
   • King David sent for him.
   • He was fetched out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.
6. 9:6
   • Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan.
   • Jonathan was the son of Saul.
   • Mephibosheth came to David.
   • Mephibosheth fell on his face.
   • Mephibosheth did obeisance.
   • David said, Mephibosheth.
   • Mephibosheth answered that he was David's servant.
7. 9:7
   • David told Mephibosheth not to fear.
   • David said he would surely show kindness to Mephibosheth.
   • David said the kindness was for the sake of Jonathan, Mephibosheth's father.
   • David said he would restore to Mephibosheth all the land of Saul his father.
   • David said Mephibosheth would eat bread at David's table continually.
8. 9:8
   • Mephibosheth bowed himself.
   • Mephibosheth asked what his servant was, that David should look upon him.
   • Mephibosheth called himself a dead dog.
9. 9:9
   • The king called to Ziba.
   • Ziba was Saul's servant.
   • The king told Ziba he had given to Ziba's master's son everything that belonged to Saul and to all his house.
10. 9:10
    • The king told Ziba that he, his sons, and his servants were to work the land for Mephibosheth.
    • The king told Ziba to bring in the produce.
    • The king said this was so that his master's son would have food to eat.
    • The king said Mephibosheth, Ziba's master's son, would eat bread at the king's table always.
    • Ziba had fifteen sons.
    • Ziba had twenty servants.
11. 9:11
    • Ziba told the king that he would do everything the king commanded his servant.
    • The king said that Mephibosheth would eat at his table.
    • The king said Mephibosheth would eat as one of the king's sons.
12. 9:12
    • Mephibosheth had a young son.
    • The son's name was Micha.
    • All who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.
13. 9:13
    • Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem.
    • Mephibosheth ate continually at the king's table.
    • Mephibosheth was lame in both his feet.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

9:1

Saul was Israel's first king and David's predecessor; Jonathan was Saul's son and David's closest friend, and both died in the same battle with the Philistines. "Kindness" here translates Hebrew *hesed*, which is not spontaneous niceness but loyalty owed within a sworn relationship, David and Jonathan had bound themselves and their descendants by oath. When a new dynasty replaced an old one, surviving members of the old royal house were normally killed as rival claimants, so David's question would have sounded ominous to anyone who heard it.

9:2

"Servant" here does not mean a field slave. Ziba managed Saul's household lands and had his own sons and servants under him (verse 10). Also, "your servant" is simply how a person addressed a superior about himself in this culture, roughly the equivalent of a formal "yes, sir", Ziba is saying "I am he."

9:3

"The kindness of God" is a Hebrew way of saying kindness of the highest order (the sort of steadfast loyalty God is said to show) and may also carry the sense of loyalty sworn in God's name. The son's disability is explained earlier in this book: when he was five, news came that Saul and Jonathan had been killed, and his nurse fled with him and dropped him.

9:4

Lo-debar was a town east of the Jordan River, in Gilead, well outside the heartland of David's kingdom, and effectively a place of refuge for what remained of Saul's family. Machir son of Ammiel was a man of means in that region; he later supplies David with provisions during Absalom's revolt.

9:5

"Fetched him" is not a courtesy. A royal summons could not be refused, and Mephibosheth, as the last male heir of the previous dynasty, had every reason to assume he was being brought in to be executed. That is why David has to open with "Fear not" in verse 7.

9:6

Falling face-down was the standard gesture of a subject before a king, not an unusual act of devotion. As Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth was a potential claimant to the throne, which is why being summoned to the palace was frightening and why David's first words in the next verse are "don't be afraid."

9:7

Two separate grants. The land is Saul's family estate in Benjamin, which had presumably reverted to the crown; David is returning the property. "Eating at my table" means permanent support at royal expense, a place among the king's household dependants, which also meant living where the king could keep an eye on him.

9:8

Dogs in this culture were not pets but scavengers that fed on refuse and corpses; "a dead dog" was a stock expression of utter worthlessness, used here as the conventional self-abasing reply to a royal favor.

9:9

The King James "thy master's son" follows the Hebrew word *ben*, which covers son, grandson, or any male descendant. Mephibosheth was Saul's grandson, not his son.

9:10

The arrangement is a tenancy: Ziba and his household farm the estate and hand over the produce, which supports Mephibosheth's own household, while Mephibosheth himself is fed at the palace. The note about fifteen sons and twenty servants is there to show Ziba commanded a workforce large enough to do it.

9:11

The Hebrew here reads "he shall eat at *my* table," without saying who is speaking; most take it as David repeating his decision, which is how the rendering reads it, while the ancient Greek version has "at David's table," making it the narrator's summary. "Like one of the king's sons" describes his standing at court, not adoption.

9:12

Mica's descendants are listed among the notable families of Benjamin in Chronicles; the name is recorded here because Saul's line continued through him.

9:13

Jerusalem was David's capital, not Saul's home territory, so living there means Mephibosheth is at court under the king's eye rather than on his ancestral land. The chapter ends by repeating that he was disabled, the detail that had kept him hidden and powerless from the start.